How to Maximize Sales after Trade Shows

Did you know that over 80% of the leads captured at trade shows are never followed up?

Over 98% of companies do collect leads at trade shows but most of those leads are never followed up.

Why?

Even though this number has come into question with more recent studies the fact remains that over 70% of companies do not have a formalized follow-up plan for the leads they generated at a trade show.

Make sure the ethical bribe you are offering has been tested before and it’s something that your ideal customer would want. (In this example, I’m using a checklist as the ethical bribe to get people to sign up).

Go to the editor and choose a landing page template.

In the editor you can create and edit the landing page – The copy is important here.

Make sure you to integrate with your email provider. In this, I’m choosing ActiveCampaign.

In order to integrate with your email provider, you have to go to the setting on Leadpages and get your ActiveCampaign ID and input the information.

The last thing is to make sure to have the LeadMagnet setting on. Once someone inputs their information they automatically receive an email with the Lead Magnet.

ActiveCampaign

Once you’re logged in you have to create a new list and a new subscription form.

Name the new list something that will be easy to remember.

Click on integration’s to create your subscription form.

Give the form a name.

Here you can add different fields – I added a number field.

It’s important to remember that you have to create the subscription form on ActiveCampaign first before you can integrate with your Leadpages account.

Follow-Up Sequence

The follow-up sequence will be based on many factors depending on what your sales process looks like.

Make sure you have a lead scoring system in place that lets you qualify your leads.

ActiveCampaign allows you to tag and segment your leads.

Every business has a different qualification system.

Therefore, you should make sure you have some qualifying questions before they submit their information.

You can create multiple lists and multiple landing pages and have different sequences for each.

Lead Qualification Form

You can create an additional form in your sales funnel and have a qualification form.

You have to decide if you want people to take an additional step in filling out information.

This can lead to fewer leads but it might lead to better more qualified leads.

Email Follow Up Examples

A good template you can use to follow up with the email is something Hubspot can provide guidance in:

Dear [Prospect],

What an exciting show. I hope you made great connections and learned some things you can use in your business immediately.

I am sure that increasing sales effectively [objective] is on the top of your list. As we promised, here is “Six Ways to Increase Your Sales” [piece of content].

If you would like more in-depth information on any of the ways [details of content], I’d be delighted to have a 30 minute conversation with you to dive into that.

I’m here to be a resource to you, so don’t hesitate to call.

Best regards,

[Salesperson]

Here’s another version you can use from Hubspot.

Remember to make sure your follow up emails always add value.

I can’t tell you how many times the follow-up emails I’ve received are just brochures of the company’s products.

If you didn’t get a chance to qualify your leads at the show, you can do so with your email follow-up sequence.

A good way to do this is to provide 2-3 different call to actions when you send an email.

For example, in your follow-up email, you can give them the option to download a checklist, request a demo, or a white paper.

This allows you to qualify the leads that are most interested in doing business with you.

You can tag these leads in your CRM and assign them to your sales rep to follow-up with a phone call.

More email Follow Up Tips

Once you’ve qualified your leads make sure to personalize each email. Assign the different leads to your sales rep and put their contact information in the email. This way it allows the prospect to contact the rep.

Remind your prospects of any announcements you made at the show. Make sure your emails are value added and not just brochures of your business.

Design separate campaigns for the leads that registered at your booth and those that were provided by the show organizers to the exhibitors.

Segment your leads into different vertical markets. Design different email sequences for each vertical that provides relevant information. For example, you can different campaigns for a lawyer, an architect or an engineer.

Sales Follow Up

Once you’ve designed an email campaign and qualified your leads it’s time to start the sales follow up.